The children born to illegal aliens living in America may no longer automatically become U.S. citizens if former President Donald Trump wins reelection in 2024.
“As part of my plan to Secure the Border, on day one of my new term in office — I will sign an Executive Order ending automatic citizenship for the children of illegal aliens,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social Tuesday.
Trump shared a video message with the social media post, saying granting citizenship to babies born to parents who entered the country illegally is a “reward for breaking the laws of the United States and is obviously a magnet helping draw the flood of illegals across our border.”
Trump continued, saying, “At least one parent will have to be a citizen or a legal resident in order to qualify [their child for citizenship]. We will secure our border and we will restore sovereignty starting on Day One. Our country will be great again.”
According to Global Citizen Solutions, which describes itself as a “consultancy firm with a borderless vision,” America is one of just over 30 countries to grant unrestricted birthright citizenship, meaning any child, except for a diplomat’s child, born on American soil is automatically a U.S. citizen. In addition to the U.S., some countries with unrestricted birthright citizenship include Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Tanzania.
Countries with restricted birthright citizenship mandate additional requirements for a child to gain citizenship in the country he or she is born in. Such requirements may include, for example, that a parent must have also been born in the country, both parents must be legal citizens, or a parent must have lived in the country for at least a year before the child’s birth. More than 20 counties have restricted birthright citizenship laws, including Egypt, Thailand, Japan, Iran, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, according to Global Citizen Solutions.
Trump said America’s current unrestricted birthright citizenship policy “is based on a historical myth and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates.”
The 14th Amendment of America’s Constitution reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, has previously argued that “universal birthright citizenship is poor public policy that is not constitutionally mandated.”
In a 2019 paper, Swearer writes, “It would be wise for Congress to re-adopt the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and further clarify that the U.S.-born children of illegal and nonimmigrant aliens are still subject to foreign powers, disqualifying them from birthright citizenship because they are not ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 states, in part, that “That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.”
Trump previously pledged to end birthright citizenship during his presidential campaign in 2015, but never did so during his presidency.
Trump’s pledge to sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship on Day One of his presidency comes amid record encounters of illegal aliens at America’s southern border.
Since the start of the Biden administration, Customs and Border Protection reports encountering more than 5.5 million illegal aliens at the southern border. Since fiscal year 2023 began on Oct. 1, CBP has encountered more than 1.4 million illegal aliens, about triple the number encountered at the southern border during fiscal year 2020.
Virginia Allen is a senior news producer and podcast host for The Daily Signal. She is the co-host of “The Daily Signal Podcast” and “Problematic Women.”
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